Customer Reviews

The Cubicle Next Door

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The Cubicle Next Door is a light-hearted romance told from the point of view of Jackie Pert Harrison, a 31 year old single woman that works as a computer tech/administrator at the Air Force Academy. Her life gets turned upside down when she finds out she has to share her office with a new instructor, Lt. Col Joe Gallagher a pilot who's been grounded due to a temporary medical problem and assigned a teaching position at the Academy. Jackie is a reserved woman, used to doing things her own way, used to the routine of her life, and she is dismayed and disgruntled that Joe upsets it all. In personality he is the exact opposite of her. Outgoing and friendly where she is quiet and standoffish. He seems to not take anything seriously, while she takes everything too seriously.

At first, Jackie does everything in her power to stay away from Joe, but he is there every time she turns around. Asking her to eat lunch with him during break, moving into a house a few blocks from her own, always trying to engage her in conversation when she'd rather be left alone. Eventually, Jackie starts to like him (against her will of course!LOL), and she slowly but surely falls in love with him.

I really enjoyed reading this book. This book is categorized as Christian romance, but there is no overt displays of faith or spiritual issues touched upon. Both characters are Christian and they both attend a church service together later in the book. This book reads like a lot of mainstream chick-lit books out there, as it is told in 1st person POV, and there is a lot of funny thoughts and moments you are privy to from the narrator, Jackie.

Although there were a lot of laugh-out-loud moments, I could see the more serious undertone throughout the book. Jackie struggles with trying to accept the fact her mother abandoned her as a baby right after giving birth to her, and the fact she never knew her father (he died in Vietnam before she was born). Her fear of being just like her mother (who fell rashly in love with her father one summer, an Air Force instructor, then her mother's devastation at his death, and her subsequent abandonment of Jackie) causes her to push Joe away and refuse to acknowledge that she does have any deeper feelings for him.

In Jackie's eyes, she feels it's easy to never have loved than to love like her mother did and cause pain for those closest to her (namely, Jackie and the grandmother who raised her). However, Joe has other ideas and he continues to pursue her, trying to become friends with Jackie. Jackie gets exasperated and starts a blog to vent her frustrations about life sharing a cubicle with another co-worker. The author included Jackie's blog entries prior to the start of most of the chapters.

This book has no sex scenes or any other depiction of physical intimacy between Jackie and Joe. The most that happens is a kiss and that's not described in detail at all, oh, and a lot of hugging. =) I don't think a romance book needs the graphic sex scenes to be considered a romance book. Most women read romance books for the story, the growth in relationship between the main characters. I thought the author was very effective in showing and describing the developing relationship between Jackie and Joe. The only downside with a story told from 1st person POV is you don't get the perspective of other main characters, in this case, Joe. I could understand why Jackie was so hesitant about being with Joe, but I couldn't really see what Joe saw in Jackie, although by the end he does give a reason why he never stopped pursuing her.

Oh well, despite that negative, I still found this book very enjoyable to read. It made me smile, laugh, and cry (there were some sad parts when Jackie visited her father's grave and her thoughts on her mother). IMO, I think that's a mark of a good book. When you can laugh or be sad with the characters, and it touches you emotionally.

The Cubicle Next Door was such a good book. I feel like reading it a thousand times. The main character is so real and relatable that it makes you want to root for her. This was a refreshing read and I actually think I might read it again...I never do that!

This isn't Christan fiction of the type where there is a great spiritual revelation. Both Joe and Jackie are already Christians, but each with their own issues. Joe is career Air Force, but migranes have stuck him teaching European history to cadets (this is actually why I picked up the book...I'm a history prof...but there is VERY, VERY little history in this book). Jackie is a civilian techie who works for the Air Force. She's forced to share a cubicle with Joe and starts a blog about her problems with this. Jackie has been raised by her grandmother b/c her father died in Vietnam and her mother ran off to India right after she was born and has definite committment issues. Joe is the type never to take no - a good thing when dealing with Jackie! Jackie's blog entries are placed right in with the storyline and it works very well. It is a cute, entertaining light Christian romance. Great summer time reading!

Jackie is a civilian who works at the US Air Force Academy. She is forced to share her office, now divided by a cubicle, with Joe, a former pilot and new teacher. She lives with her grandmother and writes in her blog her feelings for Joe (with codes names of course) that she would never actually say out loud. When her blog becomes famous, EVERYONE seems to be reading it and trying to guess who the author is, including Joe. Jackie has to struggle with her feelings for him and to keep him from guessing that the blog is really about him.

I really liked this book. I really admired Jackie and felt for her. You understand why she acts and feels the way she does. It was refreshing to read a chick lit book where the main character isn't such a girly-girl who shops and is boy crazy. Believe it or not, there are some of us out there that are like that!

Joe sometimes got on my nerves. I'll admit he is a good guy and one of the nicest male leads I've read in a while. But sometimes he was just so....arrrghhh! The scene that stands out most is when he asks Jackie to go to the Bollywood movie with him. But then in the theater all he does is keep complaining and talking during the movie AND he eats all her popcorn. He also seems a little unsympathetic when Jackie is slow to reacting to his affections due to her history. But like I said he is a good guy and I did like him and he was good for Jackie.

Otherwise I really enjoyed this book. It gave great insight to the military/civilian life. I also liked the comments in the blog. You get different perspectives from everyone (although the 15 year old know-it-all guy seemed a little unbelievable) that add a touch of real life and humor the the blogs. My favorite scene happened after Jackie wrote her "help me" post and the whole blogging world goes insane with worry about what happened to her. When I got to the end I had to flip back and read over stuff. I was caught off guard and pleasantly surprised. This is a great chick lit book and I'm looking forward to going back and reading the rest of Siri's books.

I don't like a lot of Christian chick lit. The heroines are usually preachy and self-righteous -- and not a lot of fun to be around, even for 250 pages. But I get tired of the also-unlikeable, amoral characters in secular chick lit, who have nothing better to do than sleep with their bosses and buy a pair of shoes the cost of which would feed a family in Africa for a year.

The Cubicle Next Door should be required reading for anyone considering writing Christian or non-Christian chick lit.

This book had it all. A charming heroine. A great cast of characters and a delightful second love story. A love interest who is worth the angst. Lots of uh-ohs, laughter, roller coasters of ups and downs. A soft, but powerful, message of faith. And Siri L. Mitchell's writing style had just the right touch for this story.

While some moments were unbelievable (come on...a blog that gets and keeps national TV coverage? A 30-something girl that looks like Audrey Hepburn who's never been kissed? Puh-lease!), I really enjoyed this book in its entirety. I'll look forward to reading more of Mitchell's books.

Well, I used to, but I found someone better.

This book, though, is a wonderful read! The moment I grabbed it from my bookshelf (I bought several inspirational romance books and decided to read them when I have the time), I just couldn't put it down.

I knew that the girl was already falling in love with the guy, but does the guy like the girl at the same time? Will he ever know that she's talking about him on her blog?

I love how cute and quirky the characters were, and they were quite funny, too! And the romance was tops! From friendship to romance. Just...wow!

Read it, you'll love it!

I found this book to be very entertaining and well written. I found the characters believable and different from most. I laughed out loud several times while reading. The author has a great sense of humor and is able to articulate it well. I enjoyed her writing style so much that I went out and purchased her other books. So far, I've found them to be just as good.

The Cubicle Next Door by Siri Mitchell is a delightful read. Jackie Harrison is a civilian working at a military job and trying to keep herself together. To vent about her job, she writes a blog titled The Cubicle Next Door. When she gets a cubicle mate, Joe Gallagher, she really starts pouring out her frustration on the blog, but is stuck when her blog starts getting national attention and even Joe starts reading it. Mitchell includes lots of fun details about blogging, but the story really revolves around Jackie's fear of opening herself up to others. Jackie's slow evolution is at times heart-breaking and hilarious (and at times both). Something I really appreciated about the book is Mitchell's obvious respect for the military. She writes about them with humor and appreciation without being irreverent or obsequious. The relationship between Jackie and Joe grows naturally. The occasional blog entries are well done. Jackie's also a fun character to read about, because female computer geeks are not often written about, so Mitchell makes Jackie fresh and a hoot to read. Her sarcastic humor skewers both herself and the world she lives in. Not just a great chick lit read or a great Christian read, but a great read overall.

I loved this book so much, I read it twice in the space of three days. Siri L. Mitchell did a great job capturing characters and making them come to life. It's a great and entertaining read and you'll fall in love with the characters. I highly recommend this book to those looking for a feel good, growth story. It's great!

This is one of those romances where either the guy or the girl has some issue in his/her past that keeps them from falling in love so they try to catch themselves. The person in question, Jackie.

Jackie is in my opinion really funny, I was laughing out loud through out the book. One of Siri's strong points is definitely dialogue. But somtimes Jackie's resoning dosn't make sense to me.

It was unlikely that the blog would get featured on national news, but it could happen I suppose...

Overall a really good book. Definitely one of my favs.